Washington wins in dramatic fashion

Many call Washington and Yates a classic rivalry and the game between the teams on Saturday turned out to be a classic as the War Eagles’ pulled out a close one 18-15 in double overtime.

Washington-Yates notes

No pressure

As Washington kicker Michael Bruce prepared to attempt the game-winning 26-yard field-goal, he said he didn’t feel any pressure heading out there despite the fact that the War Eagles had trouble with punt and kick snaps all day, botching four of them.

“All I do in practice is learn how to block it out,” Bruce said of the pressure. “I just do my job. There’s nothing like (this crowd). You have to just do your job like the rest of the team.”

Mixing it up

Yates had trouble getting a rhythm offensively throughout the day no matter who was at quarterback. Seniors Kijuan Dabney and Stacy Williams rotated under center, but it wasn’t until the fourth quarter when Dabney engineered a six-play, 63-yard touchdown drive that things started to click. Washington coach Joel North says they threw some different looks at Yates to cause that.

“(Yates) coach (Clarence) McKinney (used to be) my offensive coordinator,” North said. “We knew we had to think outside the box and do something a little different. So we changed our defense and came in with some sets that he hadn’t seen before and I’m sure it threw their blocking schemes off a little bit so it worked good for us.”

Destiny in control

With the win, Washington is now in sole possession of first place in District 20-4A and controls its own destiny. If the War Eagles win out, they’ll win district.

“Now we have to fight to stay up there,” Washington coach Joel North said. “We’re going to try and finish up the regular season and go into the playoffs and hopefully we’ll stay healthy.”

Staying up

Now that Yates is in second place in District 20-4A, they’ll need Washington to lose a game if they hope to get a chance at the district title. If not, Yates coach Clarence McKinney says they’ll be fine.

“We have to win the rest of our district games so we can get in the playoffs,” McKinney said. “Now we’re bascially trying to get in the playoffs and everybody’s undefeated once you get there so we’ll see how it goes.”

Believe in the big ‘E’

One thing that can’t be overlooked is the play of Washington quarterback Earnest Eastland. His numbers weren’t gaudy (3-of-11 passing, 66 yards, TD, INT) but his leadership down the stretch kept the War Eagles steady and he carried the ball on the final six plays before the game-winning kick. Eastland also engineered a game-winning drive in Washington’s 22-20 win over Davis last week.

“At school we have a motto that goes ‘We believe in ‘E’,” Eastland said. “When things go wrong, everyone looks for me to put it on my shoulders and take it upon myself. Without my (offensive) line, I couldn’t do anything though. They had faith in me and I had faith in me and we made it happen.”

Breaking the trend

Yates was the preseason favorite to win District 20-4A and many believed the Lions would come out victorious on Saturday. Much of that has to do with history, as Yates has had the advantage in the team’s series since the 1970′s. In recent years it has been split more but the Lions won the last two meetings before Saturday. Washington quarterback Earnest Eastland said there was a little pressure to break that streak and get Washington back on the winning track in the series.

“I felt a lot of pressure,” Eastland said. “There’s pressure every game we play. From here on out there’s going to be pressure because we’re the No.1 seed (in District 20-4A) and we have to maintain.”

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Its taken me a few days to recover from that tough loss, but I’m back to take my lumps from any BTW fan who wishes to pour it on me. Six fumbles, we shouldn’t have been that close. Bottom line BTW took advantage of our mistakes, and we didn’t capitalize on theirs. My hats off to their QB, and their defense, they tackle really well. Eli usually makes the 1st guy miss or breaks the tackle, but that back flipping linebacker of theirs did a good job wrapping Eli up as well as the rest of their D. Congrats this year BTW, we’ll get you next time I guarantee it.